"Legally distinct Daisy from Super Mario skips in legally distinct Crown City!"

Art credits: https://x.com/twinerva/status/2046752774130725061

I...honestly wasn't expecting to make a bot of this woman.

Obviously, you guys know why I'm making a bot of her (TWO BIIIIG REASONS (actually they're really not even that big they're like decently sized)), but I actually have quite a bit to say about the game itself...

Now, I figure I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, so I decided to do some research about the game's actual content before deciding if I should throw in my five bucks on it and give it a try for myself. So first, I watched the game's trailer, and I...really enjoyed it! The animation is fluid and bouncy with a particularly cartoonish style that balances both Scarlet's appeal and the glimpses we get into her personality

oh...her personality...

.............WHERE IS IT?!

Yeah that's mostly my gripe about the game

Say what you want about the gameplay, I personally think it looks boring based on the playthrough I watched on Youtube, but it is a one-click "rougelike (ROGUELIKE USED VERY LOOSELY HERE)" game, so hey, can't really complain about getting what you paid for...

But there's something that I feel Yerk missed the mark HEAVY on when making this game.

And that's Scarlet's presentation.

There's this sub-genre of games that I like to call "Postergirl Pumps". The general idea is this: An aspiring artist or game creator creates a character. Preferably (and usually) a female one. Then, they begin to make a game and upload dev logs about it on their Youtube Channel, with the Postergirl as the centerpiece. More often than not, the Postergirl is in one or maybe a few DOZEN suggestive poses or situations, while also showing off the game's overall development, and usually the goal is to amass enough followers from your Postergirl to generate as much hype as possible for the game

Then, when the game drops, you've already got people going into the game for both the Postergirl and the game itself! It's a solid marketing scheme, and it's a pretty effective one; who doesn't like cute girls doing cute (or badass) things? The characters and games that primarily come to mind like this are P from Motorslice, or Lina from Lightspeed Lina (which only just got revealed IIRC so I wouldnt jump the gun on her yet)

Similarly to P from Motorslice, Scarlet the character has been around much longer than Scarlet, the game. She's one of Yerk's primary OCs. It's not hard to imagine he made the game for the OC, not the other way around

Now, remember why I called it "Postergirl?" That's because these main characters are genetically engineered to be as appealing as possible. Emotionally, physically, usually sexually. There is nothing wrong with this!

But for a game like Scarlet Skips.....where you do nothing BUT jump rope...your character needs to be BRIMMING with personality in order to keep players hooked

When I watched the trailer, I did actually expect Scarlet to be able to emote mid-skips. I expected her to maybe incrementally or suddenly pick up speed when jump-roping, making the player have to actually pay attention and grow more endeared to her. I expected a plethora of fail animations that showed off her personality, or maybe even more voicelines from her amazing VA!

Then I watched some gameplay.

Oh my. Where did it all go. Her personality. Where did it go.

Well, first things first, the trailer was...kind of false advertising. She doesn't actually emote during the jump-roping sections. The speed does not increase independently of player input, it only increases when the player purchases upgrades for it. And speaking of upgrades, only one really matters: jump height (if you're trying to beat the game, that is). Unless you're deliberately going for a high score of jumps (which only exists for the sake of getting a spot on the leaderboard, as there is only one achievement and no way to "spend" your score), no other upgrade really...matters? kind of?

But that's getting into the gameplay a little too much, back to Scarlet's presentation; it really falls flat when I expected it to pop out much more. For an activity like jumproping, there are so many neat things, tricks, and skills to show off! Scarlet could be flaunting her brushed off skills and showing off her personality (and dem tidies), she could actually respond or acknowledge the player while she's skipping, like in the trailer!

More exact example: if you bothered P too much in Motorslice in the title screen, she forcibly closes the game. That's small, but it does WONDERS for showing off P's personality, technical coding skill, and player engagement with P. You actually feel like you pissed off P, and she reacted accordingly!

But Scarlet...doesn't really react.

The last thing I was to do is call a character goonerbait, because there's a lot of conventionally attractive female characters throughout history that have had their strong personality or characterization shunned in favor for their body. I think it's always excellent when a conventionally attractive female character has an actual personality and backstory to just beat down on the goonerbait argument. But as it stands now...

Well, Scarlet is just a big butt and two boobies to get you playing the game at first.

I'm not tryin' to put down Yerk, now; game development is hard, and stacking animation on top of that? I have no doubt it's a lot of work. But...as it stands, the main appeal of the game (Scarlet) is pretty lackluster, with a lack of customization (outfits, backgrounds even), characterization (we only know that she's a washed up jump-rope champion, but I would have LOVED to hear more about her prime or her life outside of jump-rope), and player interaction (few voicelines aside from noises made with the mouth, not verbal speech)

And the "Skips" part of the game isn't exactly the most engaging either, so...the game falls short on two fronts

In the end, I didn't buy the game just to save myself the time and the Steam refund request.

Yerk's DEFINITELY sitting on a goldmine of a character. Scarlet is already appealing in terms of character design, she just needs MORE details about herself and more EXPRESSION during the game to get you to actually care about her

Of course, if you just came to watch Scarlet Skip for five bucks, then...

Well, you got what you wanted! And there's no shame in that!

It's just...well, it would be pretty wasted potential

....OK WHILE IM STILL HERE CAN I TALK ABOUT THE ENDING

I think that the game's message is very...odd.

It says that you should take life one jump at a time, implying failure is something you'll have to overcome frequently...and there's nothing wrong with that, it's a good message

But it's not really PRESENTED in the gameplay. The message is just...THERE to be a message, as if to make the obviously sexually appealing game seem a little more in-depth than it really is

And the thing is, it's not like the game COULDNT make do with that theme. Scarlet IS a washed up jump-rope champion. She DOES seem like she would fail at a lot of things she does. That speed-up mechanic I talked about before? Maybe Scarlet gets more cocky in-game and speeds up, causing her/the player to be more liable to fail, which actually WOULD REALLY hammer in that theme in a way that feels relevant to the gameplay, Scarlet's character, and the story!

SO WHY DOES SHE JUST GO TO THE MOON IN THE ENDING???

Well, I didn't really pay for a storygame, so hey, I cant complain too much about it, but it doesnt feel very "satisfying" for Scarlet given what we're presented with about herself in the story. Jump-roping doesn't reignite her passion for life or anything. She doesn't visibly stop holing up in her room to try and make something better out of herself. She just...lands on the moon, falls asleep, and then we get smacked with another quote.

Guys cmon now guys cmon

It's just...sigh.........

.......Gosh, I haven't yapped like that in a while! Phew!

Anyways, TAKE MY WORDS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. I have not actually tried the game for myself, so if anybody actually has, please, feel free to disprove me in the comments! Believe me, I actually want reasons to pick up this game, but right now, it's just a house with a solid foundation and nothing inside....

I've seen some people say "oh its just a game to get your rocks off on for five bucks why are you complaining you got what you paid for"

HEY. HEY FOLK. Porn games CAN have effort. Just because a game is sexually explicit doesn't mean it CANT be GOOD or have SUBSTANCE. And by the by, Scarlet Skips HARDLY has sexual content! The only thing "sexual" is Scarlet herself and the physics and animations on her body, but are we REALLY going to tag a game as NSFW because the main character has a rockin' bod?! NO!!!!!!

The game IS mostly played off for laughs, but that's no excuse to be able to take advantage of the potential you have, right...?

Tl;dr: Scarlet Skips has a solid foundation to build off of, but in its current state Scarlet as a character has too little actual character to incentivize me to buy the game and the gameplay isn't doing any favors

Intro 1: Basically the game's opening cutscene but she fails her first skip immediately and you're there to witness it

Intro 2: BANGING ON HER DOOR FOR THAT FUCKING RENT

Intro 3: CYOS